


Wait

by caek



Category: Watch Dogs (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Inspired by Music, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, Slow Burn, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-19
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-09-18 14:09:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9388670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caek/pseuds/caek
Summary: It's awkward when you have feelings for your best friend, and they're interested in someone else. Marcus is torn between saying something about it, and being encouraging to see his friend happy.





	1. [//:one]

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spazgardian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spazgardian/gifts).



> Obligator SPOILER warning because it takes place after the conclusion of the game.

Ch. 1

Marcus hadn’t gotten this wasted since the night after DedSec had taken him in. Swelter Skelter was wild, sure, but at least it had been productive. Tonight he was focused solely on turning up, having a good time, and possibly passing somewhere comfortable. He’d worry about the consequences in the morning. 

They had been through so much shit with losing Horatio and taking down Blume. They deserved a night on the town if nothing else. Marcus dedicated the first round of the night to Ratio and all the shit he did for them. He would have been so fucking hyped to know what they accomplished, and it was a damn shame that he wouldn’t be around to witness it. 

Even though he never really brought it up after the fact, Horatio’s death had really messed him up. It was the first time he’d ever seen a person die before. The first time he’d ever touched a dead body, and the first time he ever wanted to take a life out of pure revenge. Horatio didn’t deserve that shit.

Marcus remained at the bar, lost in thought and drinking, while the rest of them danced and socialized. Wrench had invited the donut girl, Naomi, but apparently she wasn’t able to make it, and for whatever reason his best friend announced via group text that he’d be there, but not until later in the night. Sitara, fortunately, brought along a group of people Marcus didn’t know. They looked like a pack of art school dropouts, and could practically hear Ray’s voice agreeing with him. 

Ray, naturally, had refused to come, citing old age as incompatible with both loud music and dancing. At least this left Marcus with some time on his own to watch everyone else have fun. From across the bar he could see Sitara introducing one of her friends to Josh, who must have said something hilarious because the girl laughed while Josh only barely returned the smile. Marcus was never surprised that the guy was able to pull a ridiculous amount of women, but he was always amused at how surprised most people were when it happened.

“Is this seat taken?” 

Marcus looked up to find a heavily pierced girl taking the seat beside him. Her hands shoved a carton of cigarettes into the pocket of her leather jacket as she grinned at him. She was pretty, and he couldn’t find the words to respond so instead just gestured with his hand for her to go ahead and take it. 

She waved perfectly manicured fingers at the bartender to get their attention before turning back to Marcus. “Let me buy you a drink, handsome.” 

“Wow, is this even real life?” he laughed, resting his face on his hand that was propped up by his elbow to he could watch her order two mojitos. 

“Traditional gender roles are too retro for me.” She grinned, paused, and bit her lower lip. “Okay, that was a lot funnier in my head.”

“It’s okay. You tried.” Marcus laughed, wondering if he knew her from somewhere. Her hair was jet black, probably dyed that way, and she had a very memorable hairstyle that Marcus felt like he would have remembered. One side undercut while the other fell into an grown-out bob. 

“I’m Sitara’s friend, and I’ve heard a lot about you and the shit you’ve done. Thought I’d meet the legend and buy him a drink.” She paid for the drinks with cash and slid one glass over to Marcus, who seemed hesitant.

“Legend, huh? You sure know how to flatter a guy.” Despite his words, Marcus had the body language of a man that wasn’t interested, and maybe subconsciously that was true.

“Don’t worry, dude. I’m gayer than I can actually express with words, and I’m 100% not actually hitting on you.”

“Worried? Nah, I’m just hurt now ‘cause you had me feeling pretty and shit just a few seconds ago.” He joked, relaxing a little as he tried the drink. It looked too colorful for his tastes, but it actually wasn’t bad at all.

“Don’t guilt me into complimenting you! That’s such a punk move.” She cackled, nudging him with her elbow. “So what are you doing over here all alone? Got something on your mind? Or someone?” Her brows raised to show plain old curiosity displayed all over her face.

“Yeah, I guess.” Marcus smiled a little as he idly turned his glass around on the surface of the bar. Either the drink was strong, or she was growing on him after just a couple minutes of conversation.

“Oh, right.” She nodded as though she remembered something all of a sudden. “I heard the toast earlier. You and Ratio were close?”

“I mean, I didn’t even know him for that long, but I felt like we could have been brothers. The shit that happened to him could have easily happened to me, to any of us.” Something about her aura felt familiar and Marcus didn’t feel weird emotionally unloading on her at all.

The girl hummed in agreement and then dug something out of her messenger bag. “I can’t bring your friend back, but I can help you celebrate life. I think that’s what he would want. I gotta go before my girl gets lonely, but take this.”

“What?” Marcus didn’t get to follow up with any more questions because she literally placed a small baggie of what appeared to be cocaine down in front of him before walking away with a grin and a wave. He only then noticed that her fingernails glowed in the dark.

“Man, I leave you alone for an hour and you’re buying coke from strange women?” Wrench’s voice was immediately noticeable and Marcus didn’t even have to turn around to know his best friend was standing right there. He’d been caught in the act. The masked anarchist took up the baggie and slipped it into his pocket. “That is way too much for one person. Especially one as straight edge as you, hipster boy.”

Marcus reached for Wrench’s pocket, but his friend twisted out of his reach, and when Marcus attempted to corner him, he made sounds that would make Satan himself blush. “Who even lets you go out in public?” he laughed, finishing the last of his mojito. “And in my defense, I didn’t pay for it. It was a _gift_.”

“Come on, M, baby. We’re going to have the night of your life.” Wrench displayed a winking face before dragging him to the restrooms. 

Once inside, Marcus looked around and shook his head when his companion pulled out the baggie. Sure the place looked clean, but it was a bathroom, and he’d read about how clean bathroom surfaces were. He wasn’t trying to contract pneumonia tonight. “I’m not doing lines on the fucking sink. I’m way too classy for that shit.”

“I’ve seen you drink vodka out of a sippy cup.”

“Yeah, okay, good point.” Marcus shrugged, slipping his hand into Wrench’s back pocket to try again to take the baggie from him.

Wrench was more sober than he was and apparently that gave him ninja-like reflexes in comparison to what Marcus was working with. “I gotta go first, to test the purity and make sure it’s not gonna poison your ass. I do this out of love, M. Just trust me.”

Marcus rolled his eyes but smiled at Wrench’s antics. If only. 

The mechanic used a credit card to cut two lines and borrowed a single from some poor guy leaving the bathroom and pushed his mask back to rest at the top of his head while he took care of one line on his own, sniffling a bit afterward. Marcus followed suit while Wrench readied two more lines with the last of the baggie’s contents. Since he still had the rolled up dollar bill he inhaled his off of the edge of the questionable porcelain sink, and left the rest for Wrench. 

His heart rate gradually picked up until the coke kicked in and he was less conscious of it. 

“All right, all right.” Wrench said, clapping his hands together, laughing as he leaned into Marcus to lick a bit of white powder from the tip of his nose and used his tongue to rub it against his friend’s gums before pulling back. If he was ever going to die, Wrench would be definitely be the cause. 

Before Marcus could react, or stop Wrench from pulling away, he was practically dragged right back out of the bathroom. His friend was leaving in such a rush that he hadn’t put his mask back on properly, so Marcus managed to stop him just long enough to do that.

On their way out of the bar, Wrench announced to Sitara and anyone else who would listen that they were going to a _real_ club. 

And by that, apparently, he meant the first establishment they came across that was playing music. Marcus didn’t mind. Shit was always more fun with Wrench around, and it was probably the cocaine that had him feeling more handsy than usual, but surrounded by a crowd of other people who were dancing, Marcus couldn’t stop himself from keeping his friend possessively close as they danced.

Hiding how much he wanted his friend was infinitely more difficult in this state, but he’d gotten so used to it that he was mostly able to pull it off. He stole kisses to Wrench’s neck every so often, but Wrench never stopped him. The guy was ridiculously hard to read, always was, and either initiated the flirting or went along with it for longer than would be comfortable for most people. It was crap like that which always gave him hope that maybe whatever he was feeling was mutual. 

At some point he could have sworn he saw Wrench, a little less than gently, shove some girl away. Marcus had a hard time keeping track of everything that was going on after a while, and the rest of the night seemed to come and go in a quick rush of shots, sweat, and inappropriate contact disguised as dancing. The two of them slipped out of the club when the announcement came that they were closing the place up in 10 minutes.

The fresh air felt good, and the effects of the coke were starting to fizzle out as they walked back toward the bar. “I’m thirsty as fuck,” Marcus mumbled, mostly to himself as he walked beside Wrench, arm draped over his shoulder as he watched the engineer on his phone. Although he knew he wasn’t going to like what he saw, he risked a glance to see that his friend was texting the donut girl.

Marcus groaned loudly, causing Wrench to look up, question signs for eyes. “Nothing,” he sighed, flashing a reassuring smile to his friend who returned heart eyes his way. 

“Yeah, right.” Marcus whispered, his grin staying in place until Wrench went back to texting. Still, Marcus remained close to him for as long as he’d allow it on the walk back.


	2. [//:two]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this posted twice for some reason. Here's the second Chapter.

When they got back to the bar, everyone else must have made plans to take the party elsewhere or gone home, but Wrench stayed behind to keep Marcus company at the bar like a true friend. Even as they came down, the last thing Marcus wanted to do was go home. To him it was the equivalent of admitting defeat to the night, and fuck if he’d let that happen. He’d pretty much already admitted defeat to Naomi, the donut girl, at his point, and he knew not to bother fighting battles when he knew he couldn’t win the war.

“You heading home?” He asked Wrench after a beer and several glasses of ice water, brushing glitter from his fitted jeans as he stood. Fuck if he knew how that even got there. 

“Nah, not yet. Thinking of seeing Naomi.” Wrench double caret’d at Marcus, showing his phone screen to display that he’d been texting her.

Marcus made a face, but naturally Wrench didn’t notice since he was so fixated on her messages. “It’s like 3AM, if she’s awake, why wouldn’t she just come to the bar. You invited her, right?”

“Her band was playing in LA tonight so she couldn’t make it. Fuckin’ sucks. I really wanna introduce you to her. Like, M, I can’t even put into words how awesome she is.”

Marcus tilted his head to one side before nodding. “Yeah, man. I can see how much you like her.”

“I’m hopeless. I feel like there’s no way she feels the same way about me, but fuck. I’m just glad she gives me the time of day, you know? She could probably get anyone she wanted.”

“Weirdly enough, I know that feeling.”

“You? Marcus ‘Cassanova’ Holloway?” Wrench gasped in mock disbelief. 

“Shut up.” He laughed, shoving his friend’s shoulder as they walked out of the bar. “So how were you planning on seeing her if he’s all the way in LA tonight?” Marcus asked, but immediately regretted it. The last thing he needed to hear right now was to what ends Wrench would go to get to see this girl when he was right there within arms reach.

“I figured if I started driving now, I could meet her halfway and drive her back so she won’t have to ride in a cramped van with her ban--”

“Stop.” Marcus chuckled, unlocking the closest car door with his phone. “Anyone ever tell you, you have zero chill?”

“Only you. Every fucking day. You should really come up with some new material, man.”

“Get in the car.” he smiled. “Tonight’s not over yet, and if I’m not going to spend it sulking, then you’re not going to spend it obsessing over some girl that’s 6 hours away. You lived long enough without actually having spoken to her, one night of not seeing her won’t kill you.”

“Mmn, but!” Wrench began to whine but probably saw that his behavior might have been a touch on the obsessive side. He got into the car and pulled off his mask to rub his face a bit as Marcus began to drive. 

“No buts. Are you two even officially dating yet?”

Wrench slowly turned to Marcus and gave him that kicked puppy look that made him feel like someone was wringing his heart dry. That was clearly a no, they weren’t dating, but the relief he felt immediately turned to guilt. It was pretty fucked up to be happy at the other’s misery. 

“Fuck, man. Don’t look at me like that.” 

“She hasn’t seen my face yet.”

Marcus went quiet for a moment. There was so much he wanted to say to reassure him, but none of that came out. “If she doesn’t like your face, she doesn’t deserve you.” Regret set in immediately, and while it was a true statement, the right thing to have said involved telling his best friend that he’s far from unattractive. At least to him.

“It’s so easy for someone like you to say that shit.” Wrench responded, more attitude in his voice than Marcus was prepared for.

The car sped up when Marcus stepped harder on the gas pedal and his knuckles lost pigment with how tightly he was gripping the steering wheel. Eventually he got over himself long enough to reach over and pat Wrench’s leg.

“You’re too hard on yourself. She obviously likes you. You don’t text people at 3AM unless you really fucking like them. If all the things you say about her are true, then she’s not superficial enough to put that much weight on what your face looks like.” Marcus stopped himself from adding anything about how much he loved Wrench’s face, the tallness of his nose, the almost unnaturally pale blue color of his eyes, and the way his lips curled perfectly into a smile the rare times he actually got to see it. Marcus’ hands went right back to the steering wheel, grip tight and posture tense once again. 

The night didn’t need to end just yet, and he had something in mind to distract his friend from the girl who seemed to take up a good amount of his attention.

***

When they got to the beach, he opened the door for Wrench like a true fucking gentleman. He left the car doors unlocked since the car was _borrowed_ , and led the way closer to a good view of the water. The sun hadn’t come up yet, but it was probably getting there. 

Marcus took a seat a good distance away from the actual shoreline, looking out on the horizon. The sun would come up behind them, but the waterline was still nice enough to look at when that happened. 

As weird as it felt not saying anything, the silence between them wasn’t so awkward. Their conversation in the car was tense, but probably just for Marcus because of all of the unsaid bullshit he’d been hanging onto for a while now. He could hang on to it for a while longer. Getting in the way of Wrench and Naomi wouldn’t do anyone any favors in the long run. When Marcus looked over, Wrench was on his phone again.

“I’m getting in. You coming?” Marcus decided, standing up and tossing his shirt down in the sand before dropping his own phone on it to leave it behind. 

Wrench looked between his phone, the water, and Marcus several times before that anarchist spirit came through like his friend knew it would. “Fuck it, let’s go.” 

“Ayy,” Marcus cheered then kicked off his fitted jeans with more effort than it took to get them off, but was soon in nothing but his underwear and glasses. Both of those things absolutely necessary. He looked over to Wrench who had all his clothes off in record time, and even left his mask behind which Marcus wasn’t expecting. 

Wrench got ahead and ran right into the ocean, screaming at how cold the water was but still going out until he was waist deep in it. “Holy shit, dude, my balls are clinging to me for dear life.”

Marcus laughed, taking his time with stepping further. He didn’t know how the hell Wrench could just go for it like that, but his body needed some time to acclimatize to the temperature. Even after two minutes Marcus still wasn’t even knee deep. 

“M, you are moving like my grandma. Hurry up. Get in here.” Wrench slashed a good amount of the cold ocean water at Marcus to help him along, but it had the opposite effect.

“I AM IN HERE.” Marcus fussed and stopped moving forward, yelling from the water splashing him suddenly. 

“Too slow.” 

“Give me a second!”

“Nope.” Wrench made his way to Marcus, circled around, and jumped on his back in an attempt to topple him forward toward the water, but only managed to stagger him...which was two steps he would have had to wait _forever_ for otherwise. 

“I hate you so fucking much right now.” Marcus laughed, but held onto Wrench’s legs to piggy back him just for a bit, but the guy wrapped his legs around Marcus so tightly he could probably let go and he’d be fine.

“It’s fine once you’re in. Come on.” Wrench was cruel, but this wasn’t new. He leaned forward to put more weight that Marcus would have to step forward to counteract if he didn’t want to topple over. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck! Fine!” 

“See?”

“My balls…” Marcus shuddered dramatically, but once he was in he got over the temperature pretty quick. He walked them out a bit deeper, and released Wrench, but the mechanic stayed there, face rested against the back of his friend’s head.

“I fucking hate the beach, but it’s slightly less bad when no one else is here.” Wrench admitted.

“You’re only saying that now because you don’t have to wash sand out of your ass yet.” Marcus replied, the warmth of Wrench on his back was making this all a lot more tolerable than it would have been otherwise. 

“You might be onto something there, Watson.” 

“Why am I Watson, and are you going to come down?”

“Shut up, and just be my sidekick for a second. Also, no.”

“Fine.” Without warning Marcus bent his knees to submerge the both of them beneath the water, Wrench quickly detaching himself from the other hacker. Once Marcus resurfaced, he noticed that Wrench was nowhere to be found. The droplets on his glasses kept him from making out any shadows under the water, so he felt around him blindly. “Wrench? I know your ass ain’t drowning. You can stand up!” 

Wrench finally popped up behind him, laughing. “For a second I bet you were worried about me.”

As soon as Marcus turned around to face him, the laughter stopped, and Wrench looked elsewhere. The gears in Marcus’ head started turning and he suspected the reason that his friend had been so comfortable on his back was because Marcus couldn’t look directly at him. Of course Wrench would never admit that, but now that he considered it, he felt bad for effectively detaching the other from him. “Pft. Not for a second.” Marcus said, turning away and pretending to look out at the horizon.

“Fucking liar.” Wrench laughed again, mostly within his comfort zone again. 

Marcus wanted to turn to him, kiss him, and reassure him that he was perfect, but that had so much potential to end badly. Instead he turned completely to let Wrench stay behind him where he was more comfortable. Ending the night on a good note was his main goal. He closed his eyes and laid back, limbs spread out to float on his back. “Nope.”

“This is why you’re Watson.” Wrench argued, watching Marcus float away for a few moments before he started to sneak away. He made his way back to shore undetected, only to give himself away by letting out a cackle. “Marcus!”

Marcus got up suddenly to look back to where their shit was. Wrench had taken his clothes and started a small fire just to threaten to burn them. “MAN, NO! PLEASE!” Even through his panic he was laughing as he rushed back. 

“Who is Sherlock Holmes?”

Marcus wasn’t quick enough to save his shirt or socks, but was just in time to grab his pants and shoes. “How the hell did you even start a fire that fast?” he asked, turning away to peel off his wet underwear and struggle into his skinny jeans quickly. 

“Practice,” Wrench whistled at his friend’s bare ass for the couple moments it was exposed, and used his dry clothes to dry himself off. 

“Uh huh.”

“I should have started with your dumb hipster pants.” Wrench grumbled, putting his mask back in place in time to shoot a winky face at Marcus. 

When the sun came up, Marcus took some ScoutX photos and got back into the car they’d had earlier. He was half tempted to lock Wrench out and make him drive a nudle car home, but in the end caved and offered to drop him off. 

“I can’t believe my intervention wasn’t successful.” Wrench sighed dramatically.

“Intervention?”

“Slowly burning your wardrobe until you look less and less like a hipster.”

“Get the fuck out of my car.” Marcus play-shouted when he reached Wrench’s garage, unlocking the door for him to go.

“It’s technically not your car..” Wrench counters, emoting heart eyes at his friend despite being literally pushed out of the passenger seat. “See you later, M.”

“Uh huh. Good luck with that sand.” Marcus laughed as he drove off, eager to be in his bed and asleep. Anything to avoid being conscious while his hangover caught up with him.


	3. [//:three]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcus feels like a shitty friend and T-bone gives him some advice.

Ch 3 

As much as Marcus wanted to faceplant into his mattress when he arrived back at his apartment, he would hate for sand to be all over his sheets for the next few days. With willpower he didn’t know he had, he walked past his bed and into his bathroom to throw off his damp sandy clothes so he could shower. 

The hot water felt so good in contrast to how cold the ocean had been that he stayed under the stream of water longer than he planned, and his mind kept slipping back into habitually thinking about his best friend at the worst possible moments. It wasn’t until he noticed he was half hard that he finished washing up quickly and got the hell out before his body could betray him further. 

Marcus didn’t bother to look at himself in the partially fogged mirror on his way out of the bathroom, and after drying himself off adequately, he pulled on boxer briefs like they would be some kind of deterrent from touching himself. The sad part is he believed it might work up until he repositioned himself in bed under the covers several times and couldn’t get comfortable. He moved onto his back and pulled his pillow over his face, gripping firmly at the edges while he thought of how Wrench kept looking at his phone every few minutes when they were together. 

He was hopelessly jealous, and wasn’t in a position to do anything to fix it. Wrench deserved to be happy, and the others had verified how long he had been crushing on this girl. So it wasn’t like Marcus didn’t know just how much this meant to the guy. 

“Mm, fuck.” he groaned when the reality of the situation wasn’t depressing enough to make his erection go away, and ultimately he was forced to choose between having the most pitiful wank of his life and attempting to fall asleep through equally painful blue balls.

He came ten minutes later and finally fell asleep.

\-----

The following days were difficult because Wrench, as expected, was excited about his budding relationship and whenever he was alone with Marcus it seemed to be the only thing they talked about. There was no new Siska movie in the works to distract from that this time, so Marcus was forced to put on his best friend hat and provide decent relationship advice.

“If you’re like this with all the girls you date, I can see why you don’t date much.” Marcus commented once, mostly referring to how borderline obsessive Wrench was being about it. It must have been triggering because Wrench shot back immediately and aimed to kill.

“Dude you’re just mad because you’re sad and alone.” The pointed emote on Wrench’s mask was just the icing on the cake compared to his accusatory tone.

Marcus wasn’t sure what to make of it. If he was just joking, it didn’t sound like it, and he didn’t follow up with that laughter that usually smoothed things over. Instead there was quiet between them, and he knew he should have said something to not let the moment get weird, but Marcus couldn’t find the words. How can you argue with something that was so eerily accurate.

When Marcus didn’t say anything, Wrench let out a sigh. He didn’t apologize or retract his previous statement, but did the typical Wrench thing and acted like it wasn’t serious. “Look, it’s cool if you’re jealous, but let me give you some advice. You’re not going to find anyone if you spend all your time out there running missions. Try to meet some people, man. I donno. It’s like you are an encyclopedia of great relationship advice but you don’t follow any of it.”

Marcus was listening to his friend’s words but was still internally recovering from his previous accusation. He just couldn’t deal. It was the first time Wrench ever came at him like that. There was the time in the car when he snapped at him a bit for the shit he said, but this time it felt more personal. 

The silence continued until Marcus realized Wrench was waiting on some form of acknowledgement, and so he nodded. 

“We cool, man?” Wrench asked, holding out his fist.

There were a lot of things he wanted to say in that moment. The most important being that no, he was not cool. Not with any of this. Not with having feelings for his best friend, or with being his wingman to help him secure a relationship with someone who in any other circumstance would be his rival. And he certainly wasn’t fucking cool with the hostility being thrown in his face whenever he slipped and let his jealousy show. Maybe he brought this all on himself, though. It wasn’t like Wrench knew he was hurting. Marcus never let the engineer in on any of it so how would he know how painful the situation was right now.

Instead of saying any of those things Marcus forced a smile and bumped fists with his friend. “Yeah. We cool.”  
\----

Marcus successfully avoided the topic for months. Acting like he was happy for Wrench when inside he felt pathetic for having to fake smiles and lie to him just to not bring attention to how he really felt.

Now he was drunk in a bar with Ray. The only person he trusted not to ask questions about why he’d been so out of it lately. Or at the very least not judge him for it.

Marcus looked at his cell phone, frowning as he scrolled through old text messages between himself and Wrench. Even through text he could tell things between them had changed. It was hard to say how much of that was because of Naomi and how much was just because he was trying to put distance between them. Whatever it was ended up with them not speaking much outside of the hackerspace. Wrench stopped asking him for advice with Naomi, and Marcus stopped asking how things were going. That was probably for the best, but he couldn’t deny that he missed his best friend like crazy.

“You ain’t been the same lately, kid. What’s going on with you?” Ray asked, sipping his beer as he seemed to scrutinize Marcus under the poor lighting in the bar. 

“It’s that obvious?” Marcus let out a laugh and set his phone down for a moment. 

“Something’s draining the life out of you, that’s for sure. Didn’t see it at first, but then you start to slip. For just a few seconds at a time. I look over and you have this look on your face, kid. It’s heartbreaking.”

For a moment Marcus frowned. He wasn’t sure whether or not he should drop his guard, but if Ray was already seeing through the act then there was no point in keeping it up. “Yeah, I’ve been going through some personal shit.”

“Figured. About that Horatio kid?” Ray probed. People didn’t give the man enough credit. He was good, but thankfully not good enough to see what was really going on. 

“That and some other shit.”

“I know that look. You in love?”

Marcus instantly sat up straight and shot a warning glance over at Ray as if to say that was far enough. So much for him not being obvious. “Love is a strong word, man.”

“Look, if you call the demon by its name, it won’t have power over you.”

“That’s some shit you would say.” Marcus laughed. “The fuck does that even mean?”  
“It means that skirting around it, your problem, ain’t gonna do jack shit but give it more control over your life. If you gotta put in extra effort to pretend it ain’t there, you’re just fucking yourself over.” Ray always spoke with hand gestures, and Marcus always got distracted by them. At least this time he wasn’t tripping on acid.

“So, what? I should just put that shit out there and see what happens?” Marcus felt like maybe he was seeing where Ray was coming from, but the older man’s words were vague as fuck and he could be talking about anything.

“Show your cards. If you lose, you lose, but if you win--jackpot. Right?”

“I see what you’re saying, man, but I don’t think the odds are in my favor.”

“Kid, you ever been to Vegas?”

“Yeah, a couple times.”

“All I’m saying is people don’t line up to play the slots because they think the odds are in their favor. It’s part of the thrill of the gamble. Shit, you’re probably gonna lose, but…”

“By not playing you can’t win.” Marcus finished, looking down at his phone again like he just realized something. 

“Knew you’d catch on eventually.” Ray chuckled before draining the last of his beer and leaning forward to get the bartender’s attention.

Marcus’ fingers started tapping out words before Ray could put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. 

“Kid, don’t...”

Marcus hit send. “What?”

“Hm, probably should have prefaced all this with don’t be stupid and don’t send drunk texts.” Ray rubbed at his face for a bit, but then shrugged his shoulders. “Good luck, kid.”

\----

**M** : _Ay man. You up?_  
 **W** : _always. what’s up? u ok? isn’t it past a certain hipster’s bedtime?_  
 **M** : _Nah, I’m drinking with Ray. You busy?_  
 **W** : _kinda. naomi’s sleeping over._  
 **M** : _Right. Of course._  
 **W** : _jelly?_  
 **M** : _Yeah._  
 **W** : _i know. :p_  
 **M** : _What’s she got that I don’t?_  
 **W** : _should i start with the obvious physical attributes, or.._  
 **M** : _Fuck you._

Marcus’ phone lit up and started to vibrate. The caller ID displayed Wrench’s name and a picture of him Marcus had taken the first time they hung out together. Ray saw and just gave a shrug of understanding when Marcus gestured that the was going to take it outside.

As soon as he accepted the call he was bombarded with: “Dude, are you drunk right now?”

“Why the fuck does that matter?” Marcus snapped. This time he was the one on the attack, and he knew he’d probably regret it when sobriety creeped up on him later.

“Oh, I donno. Maybe because you’re saying DUMB SHIT, Marcus.” Wrench’s voice seemed like it was keeping quiet while he relocated to somewhere where he could yell without waking Naomi up.

“It’s not dumb. I…” Marcus tried to start but his voice failed him, and Wrench took the opportunity to speak again.

“Marcus what the fuck is going on with you. I thought you were fucking around because obviously being stupid doesn’t come across on text very well, but I’m probably equal parts annoyed and worried right now.”

“I’m in love with you and I don’t want you to be with her, fuck.” Marcus spat the words out like he’d been hanging on to them for far too long. There was silence on Wrench’s end, and that only made Marcus’ heart race faster. He wasn’t sure if it was anticipation or fear, but was likely some combination of the two. The thrill of the gamble, or whatever that shit was that Ray said before.

“If you’re fucking with me right now, I’m probably going to kill you, M.” Wrench finally responded.

“I’m not fucking with you…” Marcus’ voice wavered and he immediately felt embarrassed by it. He found himself getting worked up over the conversation and knew if he didn’t get that shit out soon he wasn’t going to be able to. “I know it’s fucked up because you’re my best friend, and I know how you feel about Naomi, so I didn’t want to mess things up for you with her… fuck. But you keep talking about her, and even when we’re together she’s all you think about. I don’t know what to do..”

“Marcus,” Wrench paused. If Marcus didn’t know any better he’d think Wrench was considering his words, but that was too uncharacteristic. It must have been something else. “I’m sorry.”

An apology wasn’t what he was expecting, and arguably even more out of character, but it wasn’t really what he wanted either. Marcus wasn’t sure what exactly he wanted to gain from any of this. It wasn’t like he was expecting Wrench to accept his confession and immediately reciprocate his feelings. Obviously that would have been great, but Marcus was being realistic. “Do you love her?” Marcus asked, his eyes starting to water because he already knew the answer but wasn’t sure he was prepared to hear it. Prepared or not, he felt like it was something he needed to hear.

“Marcus... I love you, man, I do. I swear.” Wrench started, emotion seeping into his words as well which was followed by muffled swearing as he forced himself to finish his thought. “But it’s different…fuck. We’re best friends, man.”

“Do you love her?” Marcus repeated, his voice more cold and forceful this time. It had to be to stop the tears that threatened to fall.

“Yeah…. I’m in love with her.”

Marcus didn’t need to hear anymore. He ended the call and slid down the side of the building behind him until he was seated on the sidewalk. The tears felt hot on his cheeks as they fell and he dropped his phone on the ground when he covered his face with his hands to wipe them away. 

Sometimes the truth sucked and you had to deal with that, but even though he knew the truth in the back of his mind this whole time, hearing it from the source made it all the more real. Marcus swore as he moved his hands away only for new tears to fall from the corners of his eyes when the sound of his phone vibrating against concrete caught his attention. He didn’t need to look to see that it was Wrench sending him messages and then trying to call back.

As much as he wanted to fling the thing into oncoming traffic he just turned it off and put it back in his pocket. 

Ray came out of the bar maybe an hour later, and Marcus hadn’t moved. “Hey, kid. Get up, we ought to get you outta here.” he suggested, reaching a hand down for the younger hacker to take, but when he didn’t accept it Ray just hauled him up by both his arms which took a surprising amount of energy for him to manage. 

Marcus was able to stop crying long enough to not be a complete mess on the drive back home, and Ray was stubborn enough to insist that he stay with him when Marcus kept saying that he wanted to be alone. At least Ray had made the promise to let Marcus go once he’d sobered up and the older man was sure the kid wouldn’t do anything stupid drunk.

The thing Marcus really appreciated about Ray was that he wasn’t chatty. Entirely the opposite of Wrench, but he was okay with that. The fact that Marcus had looked up to the guy for so long and had even fanboyed him for years just made him feel all the more awful for forcing Ray to worry. Maybe he’d be able to voice his gratitude and appreciation in the morning, but for the moment all he could manage was, “Your advice ain’t shit.”

Ray stared down at the drunk kid on his couch and shrugged before dropping a pillow and blanket down onto him. “It’ll be alright eventually, like ripping off a band-aid. Now get some sleep.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. I don't have any good excuses.  
> Writer's block, maybe. 
> 
> Anyway, we're halfway through now, and I have most of the next chapter written already so it won't be too much of a wait.

**Author's Note:**

> I made an 8tracks playlist and the events of this are based loosely on each of the songs on that playlist. [Check it out](http://8tracks.com/rahtid/wait) if you're interested. 
> 
> I'm at rebelsix.tumblr.com if you want to shoot me a message about anything or yell at me to update this (or other works I have going).


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